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Federal Govt. releases Rs984m for coal gas project By Muzaffar Qureshi
Sunday, 10 Jan, 2010
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presiding over a meeting of Thar Coal and Energy Board at Chief Minister House on January 9, 2010. Photo by APP. Pakistan
KARACHI: The federal government has released Rs984.9 million for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) schemes being undertaken in Block V of Thar and supervised by famous nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand. The scheme is aimed at producing coal gas for power generation. The UCG is the most important clean coal technology of the future with worldwide application. It is a substitute for deep mining of coal for power generation.
The technology is based on an easy and simpler method of producing of coal gas instead of the difficult and time-consuming process of mining of coal lying in the depth of the deposits.
Sindh Secretary Mines and Minerals Ajaz Ali Khan told Dawn that vital geological data had been shared with Dr Mubarkmand to complete desktop studies to prepare gasification designs.
For the implementation of two coal gasification schemes, the Sindh government has already notified a governing body under the chairmanship of Dr Samar Mubarakmand. The additional chief secretary is the vice-chairman and members include secretary coal and energy, secretary finance and DG Sindh Coal Authority.
The governing body met here on Friday to discuss the progress on the schemes, which are expected to exploit coal for power generation earlier than other mining projects currently underway in other blocks of Thar.
The secretary mines said that technical designs of the gasification schemes as well as pre-fabrication camp design had been completed and Dr Samar was planning to engage Chinese rental horizontal drilling expert firms for carrying out drilling.
He said that preliminary layout plan of the camp had been prepared while design for underground gasifier was in progress.
He said that the directional drilling linkage of coal seams, a widely used technology in petroleum industry, was being considered for Block V.
Ajaz Ali Khan hoped the project would be completed in 12 to 18 months.
Meanwhile, the development of 1.4 billion tons of coal deposit being carried out by a London-based company Oracle Coal Fields in Block VI of Thar was progressing.
The secretary mines said around 2.5 million tons of coal would be produced annually by 2013-14. As per initial calculations 1.7 million tons would be required per annum to produce coal for running a 300-MW power plant.
The sponsors have started a bankable feasibility study for coal mining, which is expected to be completed in first quarter of this year.
The company will shortly sign a MoU with Karachi Electric Supply Company for long-term supply of coal for power generation.
Tags: coal gas,thar,power plant
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